Chopping machine



Oct. 17, 1933. R. B. TAYLOR I CHOPPING MACHINE Filed Dec. 26, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

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oct. 17, 1933. R, B, TAYLOR 1,931,211

CHOPPING MACHINE Filed Dec. 26, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

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Patented Oct. 17, 1933 I GHOPPINGHHACHHWE .Robert Brooks .Taylor, .Kapaa, .Hawaii Territory of A liance-December 26,1929

-- Serial No. 416,605

' 5.01m. (01. ns-v1 2a).

My invention relates to. improvements, in chopping machines, and it consists in the icombina tionsyconstructions and arrangements hereinafter described and claimed.

In the canning of pineapple, themore .perfect slices are selected fromthe canningtables and are placed in the cans, processed, andsubsequently sold; The imperfect slices, .ends and smaller pieces, which are good'in quality but not of propershape for canning as'they exist, are subsequently conveyedto a machine which is designed to shred, crush, grate, or otherwise '.a common shaft 6. The shaft 6 may be rotated reduce them to a common consistency which is ordinarily called crushed pineapple. .Previou'sly existing machines have, in this process of reduction, producedian excess of juice, and at the present time there is no demand for large quantities of pineapple juice. The action of the existing machines is such that the, juice cells are "disrupted and such a large amount of juice is produced that the pineapple pulp must-be drained or partially drained in order to produce a product of a sufiiciently heavy consistency to be marketable.

The principal object of my invention is to pro- 'vide a machine which reduces the pineapple by a rapid cutting action rather than employingany method of squeez ng, pressing, or. striking, .and jv sides-of the box 2 "The, short axis of theknife. 5 provides, a space between the knife. and the inner 85 surface of the sidewall-of the box 2. 'I'he'rotathus the juice cells are not so badly damaged as in other machines and .less, juice is produced.

A further object of my invention isto .provide a device of the type described which is simple in construction and has but one. moving .part.

A further advantagelies in the faint that.the fineness of the product. can be controlled over a very wide range bymerely regulating the speed of the single moving part.

A still further advantage lies in the fact that the capacity of the machine in relation to its size is much greater than that of any machine designed for a similar purpose and now operating.

I do not wish to be confined to a machine that will only cut pineapple, because it is suitable for use in a large number of different industries, and

it may be constructed so as to be practically acidiproof.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the specification proceeds; and the novel features of the device will be particularly pointed out in the claims hereto annexed.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device,

Figure 2 is a top plan view,

Figure? is a section along the line 33 .01! FigureZ, I

Figure 4. is a perspective viewjof a part. of the device, and 1 Figures is a detailview of two of the cutting blades. I

.i.In carrying out my invention, I provide a sup- 7 porting frame indicated" generally at, 1. This frame carries a box-like memberflthat hasla hopper3 inits top andan outlet 4 in its.bottom." Betweenthe hopper 3 and the outlet 4, I mount a plurality of knives 5', these being mounted on by any suitable means. I have shown apulley 'l securedto the shaft, and thispulley may .be"'7' [driven by a belt, (notshownlwhich in turn is I driven by a source of power.

" I have shown the shapeof the knives 5 inFigure5;' It will be noted that each knife has reduced. portions} and 9 that are disposed diametri-- cally opposite each other. Thesev portions have cutting edges, 10 and ,11 respectively. The cutting edgesextend'throughout the greater part of the peripheries of the .knives.

' ln'Figurez'I show thexk'nivesjv separated from each other by wa'shers 12 or other suitable spacfing means. I The longer axis in each knife will causej it .to enterr grooves;13 (see Figure ,4)jin' the orother substance, which will cut the pineapple into small pieces with but a' slight loss of juice. The knives are made of acid-resisting material such as stainless steel; Monel metal, or the like. The washers 12 or spacers may be of such a width; as to cause the machine to cut the pineapple into" 5 particles of satisfactory dimensions.

Referring again to Figure 5, it will be seen that the knives 5 have slots 14 therein. These slots receive long knives15 that have a width equal to the width of the slots. The knives 5 are aligned 1 0 with eachother, and then the knives 15-are inserted in the-aligned slots. The knives 5 are now twisted with respect to each other so that the knife at one end of the row will extend at a different angle from the knife at the opposite end* of the row. I have shown these two extreme positions in Figure 5. The knives in between the two extreme positions of the end knives are disposed in stepped relation. The twisting of the knives 5 with respect to each other will cause them grooves or pockets 13 at varying depths.

. grooves 13 to a greater extent. Figure 2 shows a to lock with the knives 15 and to form a compact unit. It will be seen that the knives 15 form a spiral position around the shaft 6. The knives 5 and spacers 12 bear against a shoulder 16 on the shaft 6. The shaft 6 has a threaded portion 17 upon which a nut 18 is mounted. This nut clamps 'the'knives and spacers solidly together. I

'From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily understood.

The product to be cut is fed into the hopper 3 by any suitable means, and drops onto the rap-'= idly-rotating knives which cut the particles thusdropped'into the hopper. The knives by their spiral effect have a relation to the direction of rotation such that any cutting action produced by them will be slicing in effect. This will tend to keep the juice in the product and prevent it from being squeezed from the product in too large a quantity during the cutting operation.

The knives may be revolved ineither direction due to the fact that they are sharpened on all sides; 1 Thus when'one edge becomes dull, the

direction of rotation of the machine may be changed and the other unused edge will come into 7 play. i

The knives 5 may be allowed to enter the The depth at which the knives enter the grooves may be controlled by, wing nuts 19 (see Figure 3) that are mounted upon rods 20 (also see Figures 1 and 2), these rods being removably secured to retaining members 21. A tightening of the wing nuts 19 will move the sides of the box 2 toward each other and will cause the knives 5 to enter the slight space between the sides and the ends of the box 2 so as to permit the sides to be moved towardeach other. The spaceis represented by the reference numeral 22. 1 v

The supportingmembers 25 (see Figure 3)"for the box 2 have slots 26 (see Figure 2) for, permitting their adjustment with respect to the frame 1.

In cutting pineapple, it has been found that the best results are obtained when theoutermost 1 knives 15 almost touch the inner surfaces of the I surfaces.

side walls of the box 2 when the knives'pass these The box 2, hopper 3, and discharge 4 may be lined with an acid-resisting metal 23 if desired. Of course, the number. of knives'and the distance between them is governed by the product Iv and the fineness of the pieces into which the product is desired to be cut.

The shaft 6 is carried by bearings 24 (see Figure 1) and these bearings may be of, the ballbearing type if desired. Byloosening the wing nuts 19, the sides of the box may be removed, thus allowing the knives 5 and 15 to be readily reached.

Although I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that the same is susceptible of various changes, and I reserve the right to employ such changes as may come within the scope of the invention as claimed.

1 claim: 1. A chopping machine comprising a housing, a' shaft mounted therein, oval knives carried thereby, said knives having aligned slots therein when the knives are aligned, longitudinally extending knives receivable in the slots, said first named knives being twisted for locking the second named knives in position, and means for ro- :tatingall of said knives as a unit, said housing having grooves for receiving said first named knive's,-the shorter axes of said oval knives be- 11 g shorter than the distance from the shaft center to the grooves so that the peripheries of the knives adjacent the ends of the shorter axes do not enter the grooves.

, through the blades near the", extremities thereof and arranged in peripheral planes.

in a chopping machine, a vertical conduit adapted to allow material to gravitate there-'- through, an element revolvably mounted in said conduit intermediate the length thereof and dimensioned to occupy a major central portion of the conduit and a closely arranged set of oval blades on said element having transverseblades passing through the extremities thereof in peripheral planes.

5. In a chopping machine, a vertical conduit adapted toallow material to gravitate therethrou h, an element revolvably mounted in said conduit intermediate the length thereof and dimensioned to occupy a major central portion of I theconduit and a closely arranged set of oval blades on said element having transverse blades passing through the extremities thereof in peripheralplanes, the set of oval blades being slightly 7 twisted about the axis of rotation for locking the transverse blades and for producing slicing action.

' ROBERT BROOKS TAYLOR. 

